India has suspended all passenger flights connecting to the united kingdom from December 23 to New Year’s Eve over fears of a replacement strain of the coronavirus spreading in Britain. Several other countries have already imposed an identical flight ban.

Also, passengers coming from the uk through flights till December 22 midnight would be tested for COVID-19 on arrival at airports “as a measure of abundant precaution”, the Civil Aviation Ministry has said.

Aviation regulator DGCA has said that each one airlines must make sure that passengers travelling from the united kingdom don’t board their flights from anywhere outside the united kingdom to return to India during the suspension period.

Following the suspension of the flights connecting the united kingdom and India, the Maharashtra government declared an evening curfew in municipal corporation areas of the state from December 22 to January 5 as a precautionary measure amid mounting fears about the new coronavirus variant.